After day two of my class was done, we drove down to the Lavender pit mine near Bisbee Az, about one and a half hours south of our campground. We drove past Old Bisbee on the way to the open pit mine and thought it would be a nice place to eat our lunch on the way back.
We stopped at the Lavender pit scenic overlook. It was a really large open pit copper mine. We had never seen an open pit mine before. The colors of 
the dirt and rock all around us was just spectacular. After gawking for a while we headed further south to Sierra Vista to pick up some bottled water and chips for a picnic lunch, then headed back north toward Old Bisbee.
What a place! We pulled in and onto a very small roadway that went up the side of the canyon. It was basically just a foot or so wider than our car with houses and garages clinging to each side of the steep slope. Reminded us of some of the villages we visited in Europe. When we got to the top, it was what looked like a dead end and started thinking that couldn’t have been a two way road. But just then someone pulled out and went off to our left and down an incredibly steep road that I couldn’t see was there and probably wouldn’t have found without that car going down it. We turned to go down it. Wow, it was probably a 45-50-degree slope to the bottom of the canyon.
Old Bisbee is an odd little place, kind of 60ish feel, maybe an artist colony wrapped into one. We found a parking spot right next to the mining museum and started looking around for a shady spot with a table. It didn’t look like we would find one, so I sat down on a steel bench with Dusty, and Kathy went ahead to see if there were any tables around. That steel bench seat was HOT, really hot out in the full midday sun. Kathy yelled and motioned me to come. She had found a little chess table with two stools in the shade up the hill a bit.
We had found a delightful place for a picnic lunch! Beautiful cool breeze and pretty view. And only a few yards away from a washroom. It was Friday afternoon and there were lots of folks walking around the town on this perfect weather day. After lunch we went for a stroll up and down the streets, found a cool park kind of hidden up a long flight of stairs. It had a nice covered area 
with hilltop views of the town and canyon walls. After admiring the park for a bit we noticed one house that looked much nicer than most of the 
others we could see so we headed further up the hill toward it. Lots of steep narrow roads all around this little canyon town. I was sad to leave as we wanted to see Tombstone and hopefully still have time to see Kartchner cavern on the way back.
We headed north out of town toward Tombstone using the GPS to find Boot Hill. I wasn’t sure we would want to stop there when we drove thru it on the way toward the mine, but I am glad we did. They had one of the roads blocked off to traffic all set up similar to what it would have looked like during Wyatt Earp’s and Doc Holliday’s time, complete with the wooden boardwalks on both sides. There were outlaws dressed up in period gear in the road, 
stage coaches giving rides around the town. Tourist shops and saloons lined the street, which was considerably longer than I expected. One of the stage coaches looked considerably older than the others, after walking past it I was thinking it was from the 1880’s and hadn’t been well maintained. Sort of looked like a deathtrap that might disintegrate while going down the street.
We walked over to the courthouse that was about a block off that road. We found an ice cream store on one of the side streets. I met a couple of Arizona Rangers. They came up to me as I was parked on a bench waiting for Kathy to find a tee shirt. I hadn’t ever heard of Rangers in Az, only the Texas variety. I asked them about the gun laws in Az. He said no permit was needed for open or concealed pistols, and they both said it’s a much safer place because of it. That just seems odd that policeman would think that, as they have to worry that anyone they stop can legally have a gun. But they were older gentlemen and thought differently than I would have guessed.
I was pleasantly surprised we had a good time walking around in Tombstone, which I thought would be too touristy for me. We left and headed toward home base and I wanted to stop at Kartchner Cavern.
When we got there, I asked the attendant at the gate if we could bring the pup into the cave, and he said no, but all the tours were full so we couldn’t go in them either. He mentioned this cave is the only fully wheelchair accessible one in the US. He was responding to my questions about the number of stairs on the tour. I was remembering back to one of the caves we hiked in the Black Hills last summer had about 800 stairs to climb. I asked about the temp in the cave, to see if it was as cold as the caves from last summer. He told us it was hot in this cave, 98% humidity and about 75 degrees. Far cry from the 48 or so degrees of the caves in the Black Hills.
We drove back to the RV after a nice day sightseeing in the Arizona desert.
